The Blount County Board of Education rejected the adoption of three new biology textbooks because they present evolution but do not present creationism, The Daily Times, Maryville, Tennessee, reported on April 5.
The vote to reject the textbooks passed 2 to 1, with four board members declining to vote.
Board members Mike Treadway and Jean Simerly voted to deny the texts and Don McNelly voted to approve them.

On April 1, Louisiana Representative Ben Nevers introduced
House Concurrent Resolution 50, which “[e]ncourages city,
parish, and other local public school systems to refrain
from purchasing certain textbooks.”

The resolution states that “in the effort to encourage
the development of students’ critical thinking skills,
city, parish, and other local public school systems should
refrain from purchasing textbooks that do not present a
balanced view of the various theories relative to the
origin of life but rather refer to one theory as proven
fact.”

Senate Bill 168 was not acted upon by the Education Committee before a March 1 deadline, and is therefore officially finished for this year's session of the Kansas Legislature. This result was expected following comments by the Education Committee chair that the bill was already "dead in the water". See February 11 news item on this page.

A bill proposing a textbook disclaimer of evolution has failed to advance in the Oklahoma legislature. HB 1504 missed this year's official deadline for committee action. See also the January 28 news item on this page.

Mississippi University for Women has reinstated Nancy Bryson, an untenured associate professor of chemistry, as its division head of science and mathematics following accusations that she was demoted because of a lecture she gave advocating “intelligent design.” The university administration denies these accusations; the Chronicle for Higher Education (March 17, 2003) reports that according to the university counsel, her lecture played no part in her demotion, and that there were previous concerns about Bryson’s job performance.